Note that we already raised the rates significantly (max used to be $1.28 instead of $24), and I'm personally looking for $2,000 per week. So I don't think Gittip understates the value of good programmers.
Here's the thinking behind the current tip amounts:
I should add that I did read that before posting. And that's part of my point: you seem to have developed the tip amount framework without any regard to the larger market. My point is that the fact that many people gladly tip their bartenders > $1/week is relevant to your project. In the real world, $0.25 is not a tip, it's pocket change. (Here's a list of suggested tips, note the conspicuous lack of tips under a dollar: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2006/10/12/basic-tips-on-t...)
The other gripe I have is that you match expected tips for a "top open-source programmer" with an average salary for a "mid-career engineer". Why shouldn't a top open-source programmer be able to make top engineer money (read: a lot more that $160k) with Gittip? And why is there a max tip amount? What if my business wants to "tip" someone more than $100/mo? (I know, it's insane to think that code would be worth that much but to some it may be.)
So I guess I would ask you to reconsider:
1) The signaling issues around the idea that a quarter or a dollar is a reasonable amount to contribute for good programming. How do you explain to non-techies why your work is worth so much more than that?
2) The expected top end of the range for super-successful devs probably shouldn't be in the range of what recent grads are making at top firms.
Again, I'm trying to be constructive, and I think that if you want to meet your goals of helping programmers find a living building open source software, you could do a lot worse than asking folks who choose to tip to do so in amounts that are commensurate with the education, training, and thought required to build useful open source software.
The rejoinder would be that, unlike my bartender, I could conceivably have 100,000 people tip me $0.25 through Gittip. When you compare $0.25 to a Facebook "Like", it's a lot more valuable.
That said, I appreciate people who want to make even more on Gittip than I do. Go for it! :-)
>> unlike my bartender, I could conceivably have 100,000 people tip me $0.25 through Gittip.
And if the minimum were $1 or $5, I don't see how that's a problem. Your bartender doesn't have global reach and his/her services don't have infinite scalability. The bartender/dry cleaner/barista examples were to illustrate lower bounds and not the maximum.
There's no reason to place artificial ceilings on how much developers can make with something like Gittip.
You're artificially limiting the maximum here. The range of contributions for e.g. a game will be different from B2B software, because the values derived are completely different. There doesn't seem to be a good reason to enforce a global limit.
If someone is willing to pay a large amount of money to influence a programmer, they'll be willing to manually negotiate / transfer it (rather than doing it through gittip).
I think all that is needed is a link that says... want to tip more? then donate directly to programmer by mailing him. This will remind the donor that he probably could give more... see how many people opt for this and figure out the nature of the donations.
That way, the service remains simple and manageable and won't end up being a money laundering operation for some terrorist.
Hey Chad, I wonder if Apple would allow a Gittip app using in-app purchases? They just released subscriptions too. That way every downloading user would already have his CC on file, and be a click away to donate.
The idea is that the volume makes up for the tax - 100% CCs on file vs 4% is huge. Not the first thing you'd think of for supporting open-source, but something to consider.
Consider using Dwolla.com instead of credit cards. No transaction fees at all for < $10. And it's run by a brilliant entrepreneur determined to disrupt the credit card industry. Cutting edge stuff.
Note that we already raised the rates significantly (max used to be $1.28 instead of $24), and I'm personally looking for $2,000 per week. So I don't think Gittip understates the value of good programmers.
Here's the thinking behind the current tip amounts:
http://blog.gittip.com/post/26505682007/is-personal-funding-...
See the comment below about raising the minimum to $1, which has been ticketed here:
https://github.com/whit537/www.gittip.com/issues/180